His parents both vaudevillian entertainers, young Jerome Levitch was performing on stage by the time he was five years old. His big break came as part of a comedy duo with Dean Martin. Between the mid-forties and mid-fifties they performed together on the stage, radio, television, and feature films. After their split, they each continued on in highly successful solo careers.
Lewis' directorial debut came in 1960, when Paramount Studios wanted to release a film that he had starred in, Cinderfella, in the upcoming summer. Lewis wanted Cinderfella to come out later in the year, around Christmas, but was contractually obligated to have a summer movie available for them. So, he made The Bellboy, a near-plotless movie featuring a slapstick, mute performance from Lewis. It was a hit. During the course of the film, Lewis decided to videotape his scenes, so that he wouldn't have to wait until the film was developed to watch his performance; today, this has become standard practice on all major films.
Following this successful first outing, Lewis went on to write, direct and star in a number of hit films, including The Ladies Man (1961), The Nutty Professor (1963), and The Patsy (1964). Lewis taught a Film Directing class at USC for a number of years, and his students included a young Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
In 1972, Lewis directed one of the most infamous films of all time; The Day The Clown Cried. The story of a circus clown who entertains children in a Nazi Death Camp, with Lewis playing the lead, it was shelved without ever being properly released, all the copies were hidden, and Lewis generally refuses to speak of it to this day. It's a bit of a Hollywood legend; you hear stories of the Hollywood elite gathering little clandestine parties to screen it. Despite the release, and enormous success, of Roberto Begnini's similarly themed Life Is Beautiful (1997), it doesn't look like we'll see a release of the film while Lewis is still alive.
Lewis has left behind a strong legacy as a director, helping to prove that auteur theory doesn't need to apply solely to drama.
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